Golf Sport

Golf :2011 Chevron World Challenge TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:32 +0000

THE 2011 CHEVRON WORLD CHALLENGE is underway at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. K.J. Choi is the early leader at 5 under with the first round in progress. Tournament host Tiger Woods is one back.Tiger Woods and his former caddie Steve Williams.Purse: millionWinner’s

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THE 2011 CHEVRON WORLD CHALLENGE is underway at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. K.J. Choi is the early leader at 5 under with the first round in progress. Tournament host Tiger Woods is one back.Tiger Woods and his former caddie Steve Williams.Purse: millionWinner’s share: .2 millionDefending champion: Graeme McDowell2011 Chevron World Challenge LeaderboardFieldCourseTee timesInterviewsTournament overviewChevron World Challenge websiteTV SCHEDULETV coverage of the 2011 Chevron World Challenge ison Golf Channel and NBC.Thu, 12/1:GOLF 3p – 6p ETFri, 12/2:GOLF 3p – 6p ETSat, 12/3:NBC 3p – 6p ETSun, 12/4:NBC 3p – 6p ET−The Armchair Golfer(Photo credit: Keith Allison, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

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Golf Sports :Best of the Best—PGA Tour Q-School of 1971 (Part 2)

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:32 +0000

(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series. Read Part 1.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.THE PGA TOUR Q-SCHOOL IN THE FALL of 1971 was six rounds of stroke play, but it was also two days of afternoon classes.

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(Editor’s note: This is the second in a series. Read Part 1.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.THE PGA TOUR Q-SCHOOL IN THE FALL of 1971 was six rounds of stroke play, but it was also two days of afternoon classes. Joe Dey, commissioner of the Tournament Players Division, gave the young pros (and as soon as a player enters the qualifying school he is considered a professional) classroom instruction by tournament players and the tour staff on players’ ethics and conduct, relations with the public, tournament sponsors and the news media, plus a written examination on the PGA Constitution, Tournament Players Division Regularities and the rules of golf.Tour pros then talked to the students about life on the circuit and the game of golf.Gardner DickinsonGardner Dickinson, a journeyman on the tour who had won over 0,000 in his career playing steady, unemotional golf, told them, “Sensationalism doesn’t get you anywhere. Good golf,” he said, “comes from hours on the practice tee. Learn to score from around the green.”Bert Yancey, another tour winner, gave the young hopefuls a few basic principles for the circuit:• Stay with one teacher• Get a golf tempo• Learn to putt all kinds of putts• Practice difficult shotsHe also told the kids to get plenty of rest every night, keep themselves in good physical condition, do exercise and eat the right food.Throughout the lectures the young professionals were quiet and attentive, dressed neatly in slacks and sports jackets (required). Some jotted down notes, but all of them, I’m sure, were thinking ahead to the six rounds of golf that was where the real tests would be held.The number of players who would pass onto the tour itself would be the top twenty-three, plus ties. That number was determined by Dey, and was based on the total number of golfers at the school and Dey’s estimation of how many new golfers the tour could support. The tournament began on Monday in the rain, the first day of rain in months for Florida. It was a rain the pros were not disappointed to see, as it would help to slow the hard, fast greens of the championship East Course at PGA National.In the long week of golf there was drama and excitement as many of the also rans, local pros such as Spike Kelley from Shawnee, Oklahoma, an assistant at a nine-hole course, tried to make the cut. Many private dreams of glory faded in the sun. It was all over for the majority until the next school in the next year, and another 108 holes of golf. The first to fall was baseball’s great Ken Harrelson, the Hawk.(To be continued.)John Coyne is a bestselling author whose latest book is The Caddie Who Won the Masters. Learn more at John Coyne Books.

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Golf Sports :‘Champagne’ Tiger Woods

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THAT NEXT WIN BY TIGER WOODS was bound to mean a lot to the maligned former world No. 1 golfer. Even if it did come in an 18-player event in early December. But could anyone imagine the steely Woods having champagne delivered to the media center?In the words of legendary baseball

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THAT NEXT WIN BY TIGER WOODS was bound to mean a lot to the maligned former world No. 1 golfer. Even if it did come in an 18-player event in early December. But could anyone imagine the steely Woods having champagne delivered to the media center?In the words of legendary baseball play-by-play man Harry Caray, “Holy cow!”Tony Lema, a talented tour pro who died at the age of 32 in a 1966 plane crash, became known as “Champagne Tony” after winning the 1964 British Open at St. Andrews. Lema’s surprising five-stroke win over runner-up Jack Nicklaus prompted a victory celebration that included sending champagne to the press. It was Lema’s first British Open appearance. With just nine holes of practice, Lema barely knew his way around the Old Course.For at least one Sunday in Southern California, we witnessed Champagne Tiger. Unlike Lema, he knew his way around the course, Sherwood Country Club, where he had won a bunch of these Chevron (and other named) things. His dramatic birdie-birdie finish to disappoint Zach Johnson was certainly the Tiger-esque way to end the most talked about winless streak in the history of the world.“It feels great,” Tiger said. “I know it’s been a while, but for some reason, it feels like it hasn’t, because coming down the stretch, I felt so comfortable.”Those putts went in. And the champagne flowed.−The Armchair Golfer

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Golf :Can McIlroy Spurt Past Donald in Race to Dubai Finale?

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:32 +0000

Editor’s note: Complimentary tickets to the 2011 Dubai World Championship are available at www.DubaiWorldChampionship.com.By Alan EwensLuke and Rory covet Dubai trophy.AFTER THE MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR in his short but spectacular career, World Number Two Rory McIlroy will go all out

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Editor’s note: Complimentary tickets to the 2011 Dubai World Championship are available at www.DubaiWorldChampionship.com.By Alan EwensLuke and Rory covet Dubai trophy.AFTER THE MOST SUCCESSFUL YEAR in his short but spectacular career, World Number Two Rory McIlroy will go all out for one final push to become European Number One when the Dubai World Championship presented by DP World gets underway at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Thursday. But the 22 year-old star knows he faces a tough battle as Luke Donald, the man at the top of the order in both world and European rankings, is also coming off his most productive twelve months in the sport.“Winning The Race to Dubai would obviously rank second after winning my first major,” said McIlroy, the reigning US Open Champion.“I’ve got to win and Luke has to finish outside the top nine or ten—but I’m not really counting on him doing that because he’s only finished outside the top ten about twice this year!“I need to play very well to beat a top class field—the top four players in the world and the top 60 in Europe are here, so it’s going to be a very tough ask.”Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council, the Dubai World Championship sees many of the greatest players on earth do battle for a share of .5 million in prize-money and a large slice of the additional .5 million Bonus Pool.Awaiting the results of a blood test as a result of a virus, McIlroy arrived in Dubai fresh from victory at the UBS Hong Kong Open and is upbeat about being back in the UAE.“I love it here, I really do,” said the popular Northern Irishman, seen by many as the natural heir to Tiger Wood’s crown. “This is a part of the world where I’ve done well before and it’s obviously somewhere I’ve grown to know and love over the past few years.”Despite all eyes being on the battle between the World Number One and Two, the field is packed with talent, including 2010 Dubai World Champion and Race to Dubai winner Lee Westwood.“I think anybody who enjoys golf likes to see the season-ending event go down to the wire,” said Westwood. “You don’t want a foregone conclusion.“It’s nice to see two people battling it out where somebody could have a putt to win both the Money List and the tournament. Rory’s obviously more experienced now and he did well to win last week and give himself a chance going into this event. But I think the ball is still in Luke’s court.”(Photo: Alan Ewens, Dubai World Championship)

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Golf Sport News :Colin Montgomerie Promotes Golf in Afghanistan

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:31 +0000

CLAD IN BLUE JEANS AND a navy blue sweater, former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie struck iron shots from scruffy turf as British troops and Afghan children looked on. Montgomerie had helped convert a firing range into a driving range at Camp Bastion, a British military

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CLAD IN BLUE JEANS AND a navy blue sweater, former European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie struck iron shots from scruffy turf as British troops and Afghan children looked on. Montgomerie had helped convert a firing range into a driving range at Camp Bastion, a British military base in Helmand. Then he showed his hosts how it was done.“It was quite good to get the lads out and have a go,” Monty said of the impromptu exhibition and golf clinic.The Scottish golf star spent three November days in Afghanistan, a roving golf ambassador of sorts. The trip was arranged by the PGA of Britain and Ireland. Montgomerie donated golf equipment and gave lessons to troops and youngsters. While acknowledging that Afghan youth were growing up in a war-torn land, he hoped golf could be a positive vehicle for the next generation.“It is great to promote the game here to encourage the Afghans to have a [Olympic] team in 2016,” he said.Monty offered swing tips to soldiers and about two dozen Afghan kids who had never gripped a golf club. After taking a turn, Masoma Alyari, a 15-year-old girl, said she hoped to play again.“It’s the first time that I’ve played golf, and it’s really interesting,” Alyari said.She might just be hooked.−The Armchair Golfer (Visor tip: BBC SPORT)

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Golf Sport News :2011 Dubai World Championship TV Schedule and Tournament Notes

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:31 +0000

THE 2011 DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP is underway at the Earth Course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Peter Hanson is the first-round leader after an 8-under 64. Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, trails by one. Rory McIlroy birdied five of the last six holes to post a 66. World

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THE 2011 DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP is underway at the Earth Course in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Peter Hanson is the first-round leader after an 8-under 64. Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, trails by one. Rory McIlroy birdied five of the last six holes to post a 66. World No. 1 and Race to Dubai leader Luke Donald is at level par after a 72.Swede Peter Hanson leads after a first-round 64 in Dubai.Purse: .5 millionWinner’s share: .2 millionDefending champion: Robert Karlsson2011 Dubai World Championship LeaderboardField in focusTee timesVenue and course infoTournament newsTournament statisticsTournament historyDubai World Championship websiteRace to Dubai rankingsTV SCHEDULETV coverage of the 2011 Dubai World Championship ison Golf Channel.Friday, Dec 93-8 a.m. (Live) / 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Replay)Saturday, Dec 103-8 a.m. (Live) / 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Replay)Sunday, Dec 113-8 a.m. (Live) / 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Replay)Golf Channel Broadcast TeamSteve Burkowski (Studio Host)Renton Laidlaw (Play by Play)Warren Humphreys (Analyst)Dougie Donnelly (Tower)Ken Brown (On Course)Julian Tutt (On Course)−The Armchair Golfer(Photo: Alan Ewens, Dubai World Championship)

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Golf Sports :Best of the Best—PGA Tour Q-School of 1971 (Part 3)

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:31 +0000

(Editor’s note: This is the third in a series. Read Part 1 and Part 2.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.36-hole leader Lanny Wadkins.IN THE ALL-DAY RAIN of the first round, Ken Harrelson, teeing off first, looking

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(Editor’s note: This is the third in a series. Read Part 1 and Part 2.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.36-hole leader Lanny Wadkins.IN THE ALL-DAY RAIN of the first round, Ken Harrelson, teeing off first, looking more hawkish than when he was playing baseball, his long blond hair dripping wet, went out in 34, birdieing the fourth and sixth holes. He instituted, for a handful of spectators, the Hawk Walk—strutting forward, arms stretched down, jaw jutting. The two birdie putts he holed were over 40 feet. He had a lot to strut about.However, he triple-bogeyed number ten, hitting into the trees and the sand, then settled down to birdie the par-3 sixteenth, and finished with 38 and a par round of 72, the early leader in the clubhouse.Everyone, most of all Ken, was overjoyed with his first round. He hung around the clubhouse telling baseball stories to Lou Strong, the club pro; Toney Penna, golf manufacturer, and others, but kept coming back to stand in the misty rain and read the leader board. His 72 didn’t hold up long. Sam Adams, a left-hander from Boone, North Carolina, was in with 69 and, later in the day, tall and thin and good looking Chuck Thorpe, an African-American from Detroit, Michigan, finished with a low for the day of 68. PGA Tour officials were also pulling for Thorpe and the other two African-American golfers who had made the school. The tournament circuit had only two black golfers playing regularly.Meanwhile Spike Kelley of Shawnee, Oklahoma, who hadn’t been able to putt all summer because the greens had burned out on his home course, was one of the many shooting in the 80s in the first round. The only thing he had done right, he said, “was buy a Coke on the tenth hole.”Tuesday morning the sun came out. Harrelson bogeyed his way around the front side—out in 43. He came back in 39 for a thirty-six hole total of 154. There was no Hawk Walk.Harrelson was to have two more bad rounds—a 75 and an 82—before withdrawing, saying as he left, “I gotta get more experience before trying the school again.”Other first-round leaders also faded. Left-handed Sam Adams went to 74. Chuck Thorpe to 76. Bruce Fleisher had a 77. But Bob Zender, 6 feet 2 inches and 210 pounds from Skokie, Illinois, a steady, unheralded golfer of twenty-eight, hitting every green, finished one under.Lanny Wadkins, finished three under and was the second-round leader. Tom Watson, playing carefully, shot another 71.Even Spike Kelley rallied, finished with a 74 and was philosophical about his chances. “If I don’t quality, at least by coming to Palm Beach I got to ride in a jet and see the ocean.”(To be continued.)John Coyne is a bestselling author whose latest book is The Caddie Who Won the Masters. Learn more at John Coyne Books.

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Golf Sport :Best of the Best—PGA Tour Q-School of 1971 (Part 4)

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:31 +0000

(Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.ON ONE OF THOSE RAINY afternoons at PGA National Golf Club, I let the players alone on the course

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(Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.)By John CoyneSpecial to ARMCHAIR GOLFCopyright © John Coyne. All rights reserved. Used with permission.ON ONE OF THOSE RAINY afternoons at PGA National Golf Club, I let the players alone on the course and stopped by the pro shop to chat with head professional Lou Strong who had seen more players come through PGA National than most. I asked him what he thought was key to winning a tour card, or for that matter, what makes a good golfer.“What makes a professional golfer, whoever they are, or wherever they are, is the ability to score,” he said.“The pros call this ‘getting up and down.’ And to be able to score, the players must first be able to manage their game. They must know how to play a variety of shots from the same locations as circumstances dictate. They must also know the course they’re playing—know its putting grain, its wind and soil conditions, its distances yard by yard. And they must be able to come back from poor shots and bad rounds. Golf is,” Lou summed up, “a game of misses, not of hits.”Lou went on to say that very few shots are executed perfectly. Everyone misses shots, but to par or even birdie a hole after an adverse shot is what makes a touring professional. It is, Lou says again, “the ability to ‘get it up and down.’” When Lou judges a new player he looks for the same thing. “A sound golf swing, a repeating swing, a control swing, and the ability to play varied shots.”Still, not everyone can make it to the tour.“I have seen players in my time,” Lou continued, “who have had all the shots, all the talent to be great winners, but still couldn’t make it. They lacked the strength of mind to come back from a bad shot or a bad round, to recover the mental quietude needed to execute the next shot, to play the next day. Professionals need to be able to pull themselves together, to eliminate tension, worry and the fear of failure, and perform the shot as if nothing else in the world mattered. And nothing else does matter until the shot is hit.”To get ready to play, Lou had the same advice for pros as well as club members.“Don’t go out to the practice area and bang away at balls. Hit twenty or thirty balls before a round, concentrating on the driver and the short iron. All you want to do is loosen up. Save the shots for the course.“Most professionals spend the majority of their time on the putting green. That’s the right thing to do. If a young pro wants to make it on the tour, he’s going to have to make it on the green. Putting is a game of confidence. If you know you are going to make a putt when you step up to it, chances are you’ll make it.”(To be continued.)John Coyne is a bestselling author whose latest book is The Caddie Who Won the Masters. Learn more at John Coyne Books.(Photo credit: Dave Fayram, Flickr, Creative Commons license)

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Golf Sports :Bad Pairing: Rory McIlroy and Dengue Fever

admin — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 10:20:31 +0000

GOLF PHENOM RORY MCILROY HAS BEEN suffering with the lingering effects of Dengue Fever, according to the Associated Press. Consequently, McIlroy has pulled out of this week’s Thailand Golf Championship and said he would not return to tournament golf until late January when he tees

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GOLF PHENOM RORY MCILROY HAS BEEN suffering with the lingering effects of Dengue Fever, according to the Associated Press. Consequently, McIlroy has pulled out of this week’s Thailand Golf Championship and said he would not return to tournament golf until late January when he tees it up along with Tiger Woods at Abu Dhabi.I admit I’m not familiar with Dengue Fever, so I consulted Wikipedia. It’s an infectious tropical disease that’s transmitted by mosquitoes. In all likelihood, Rory picked it up on his recent swing through Asia. Symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains and a skin rash that’s similar to measles.Apparently, Luke Donald has nothing to do with it, but if you’re playing with Dengue Fever, the top-ten, money-hoarding consistency of The Donald can only make you feel worse.Doctors have ordered the World No. 2 golfer to put away his sticks and get some rest. McIlroy finished 11th at the Dubai World Championship, which was won by Spaniard Alvaro Quiros. World No. 1 Donald finished solo third to capture the European Tour money title, becoming the first player to win both the PGA and European Tour money titles in the same season.“Luke deserves it,” McIlroy said. “Basically every time he’s teed it up he’s had a chance or he’s finished in the top five or top 10. Mentally you have to be so good just to keep grinding out the scores when you need to.“But I’ve made great progress this year—with my game, with my results, with everything. I feel like I’m swinging the club as good as I ever have and I feel like my body is as strong as it’s ever been.”−The Armchair Golfer(Photo credit: Titleist.com)

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Golf Sports News :The Danger of Fore More Years

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THANK YOU, MITT ROMNEY. YOU HAVE warned me that President Obama is playing too much golf on the job. Yes, 1,584 holes since 2009 is a whole lot of small ball. Heck, I’m pretty sure that’s more golf than Tiger Woods played over the same period of time. (To be fair, Tiger had a

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THANK YOU, MITT ROMNEY. YOU HAVE warned me that President Obama is playing too much golf on the job. Yes, 1,584 holes since 2009 is a whole lot of small ball. Heck, I’m pretty sure that’s more golf than Tiger Woods played over the same period of time. (To be fair, Tiger had a few distractions.)You say, “It’s time to have a president whose idea of being hands on doesn’t mean getting a better grip on the golf club.”Good one!But you’re not the first to sound the warning about 44’s golf habit and the trouble it creates for America. Michelle Cottle opined about Obama’s golf game nearly a year ago and I completely failed to grasp the seriousness of the problem. Following is my dispatch in early January.***Michelle Cottle’s commentary about President Obama’s “dangerous obsession with golf” has alerted me that I may be a hopeless golf addict who exhibits many undesirable attributes. And you might be in the same foursome with me, my friend.Cottle is a senior editor for The New Republic. She has a problem—several, really—with 44’s affection for the small dimpled ball.“Why would a leader vowing to shake up Washington—to alter the very nature of politics—sell his soul to a leisure activity that screams stodgy, hyperconventional Old Guard?” she asks.By carefully reading her article, I learned several things about my favorite pastime and what it might say about you, me and the president of these United States. For instance, she outlines telltale signs of a “creeping golf addiction,” such as:Where might it all lead? To dark, risky places, according to Cottle.“In the popular imagination, golf is the stuff of corporate deal-cutting, congressional junkets, and country club exclusivity,” she writes.(Clearly, my golf addiction has been short-changing me.)There’s more.“And, unless a president is very careful, a golf habit can easily be spun as evidence of unseemly character traits ranging from laziness to callousness to out-of-touch elitism.”(I definitely think I have the laziness down. But my out-of-touch elitism needs work.)For the president to revamp his image in the new year, Cottle says “he could start by ditching golf.” If she knew I liked golf as much as the president, she might say the same thing to me. They say the first step in recovery is admitting you have a problem. I have a problem. I miss too many four-footers. Now excuse me while I groove my putting stroke in the den.−The Armchair Golfer(Image: Roberto De Vido/Flickr)

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